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Tighten Up (Archie Bell
"Tighten Up" is a 1968 song by Houston, Texas–based R&B vocal group Archie Bell & the Drells. It reached #1 on both the Billboard R&B and pop charts in the spring of 1968. It is ranked #265 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is one of the earliest funk hits in music history. History[edit source | editbeta] "Tighten Up" was written by Archie Bell and Billy Buttier.[2] It was one of the first songs that Archie Bell & the Drells recorded, in a session in October 1967 at the Jones Town Studio in Houston, Texas, along with a number of songs including "She's My Woman". The instrumental music for "Tighten Up" had been developed[3] by the T.S.U. Toronadoes in their live shows before and they brought it to Archie Bell & the Drells at the suggestion of Skipper Lee Frazer, a Houston disk jockey who worked with both groups. [4] [5] Soon afterwards Bell was drafted into the U.S. Army and began serving in Vietnam. The song became a hit in Houston, and was picked up by Atlantic Records for distribution in April 1968. By the summer it topped both the Billboard R&B and pop charts. It also sold a million copies by May 1968, gaining an RIAA gold disc.[2] In the beginning of the song, Bell introduces himself and the Drells as being from Houston, Texas. According to the Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson, Bell had heard a comment after theKennedy assassination in Dallas that "nothing good ever came out of Texas." Bell wanted his listeners to know "we were from Texas and we were good." Bell continues in the song by stating, "We don't only sing, but we dance just as good as we want." This line is often misheard, and mis-transcribed, as "dance just as good as we walk". Asked to clarify by writer Michael Corcoran, Archie Bell responded, "We dance just as good as we want. Hell, we dance a lot better than we walk."[citation needed] Although their leader was unavailable, the phenomenal success of the single prompted the band to rush out their first album, which included the songs they had recorded in late 1967 and early 1968 with The Toronadoes. [4] [6] In 1969 the group recorded their first full album with Gamble and Huff, I Can't Stop Dancing, which reached number 28 on the R&B chart. Charts[edit source | editbeta] Covers[edit source | editbeta] Recorded[edit source | editbeta] *The Japanese electro-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra covered the song on their 1980 EP X∞Multiplies, adding the subtitle "Japanese Gentlemen Stand Up Please!" *R.E.M. covered the song during the Reckoning sessions in 1984 and their version was included on the 1992 The IRS Years reissue of the album. *Taylor Hicks covered the song on his 1997 album In Your Time. *Melbourne, Australia–based The Bamboos covered the song on their 2006 album, Step It Up. *Yo La Tengo included a cover of "Tighten Up" on their 2006 album, Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics. *Beau Jocque has recorded a smooth cajun/zydeco-influenced cover of this song. *Booker T and the MGs also covered this song. *James Brown covered the song, a live version of which appears on the compilation album Soul Pride: The Instrumentals 1960-69. The live version contains a drum break which was sampled by dancehall groupMajor Lazer in the track "Jah No Partial"[7] Live[edit source | editbeta] *The melody of the song was performed live many times by the Grateful Dead, listed as "The Tighten Up Jam." It frequently appeared during extended jam segments in their performances of "Dark Star" and "Dancing in the Street" in late 1969 and 1970, as well as a single performance on October 31, 1971. *Jamiroquai covered the song on their 1993 "Emergency on Planet Earth" tour several times. Samples[edit source | editbeta] *A sample of "Tighten Up" was used in Janet Jackson's song "Free Xone" from her The Velvet Rope album. *The song was sampled by Digable Planets for the track "Where I'm From" from Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space). Answer records and parodies[edit source | editbeta] *The Philadelphia-based rock group Nazz recorded a parody-of-sorts called "Loosen Up," which appeared on Nazz III. *The Indianapolis-based group Billy Ball and the Upsetters recorded "Tighten Up Tighter," with vocalist Roosevelt Matthews mimicking Bell's vocal throughout the song. The original single was released on King Records and would later be reissued on the 2001 compilation The Funky 16 Corners.[8] References in popular culture[edit source | editbeta] *"The Pirate and The Penpal" by Lifter Puller contains the line "He told her all about the 'Tighten Up'/ The way they used to dance down in Houston, Texas." *In The Simpsons episode "Bart Gets Famous," Homer recounts his experience of being "in a band," followed by a flashback of himself as a teen, playing the song at a streetcorner as a one-man band with a guitar, bass drum, leg cymbals, and a harmonica. He introduces the song as, "Hi everybody, I'm Archie Bell and I'm also the Drells!" *In the 2001 Spike Lee film A Huey P. Newton Story, the song is referenced by the title character, played by Roger Guenveur Smith, and even includes a sing-along with the audience. *In the 2011 film Hall Pass, an R&B / Oldies cover band known as the Stella Bass Band makes an appearance at Jason's Hideaway in a club scene playing the song. Category:1968 singles Category:1980 singles